Lithuania – United Kingdom relations are foreign relations between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Lithuania.

History

Lithuania and the UK formally established diplomatic relations on 20 December 1922. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Lithuania was at various times occupied by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The UK never recognised ''de jure'' the Soviet annexation of 1940. British prisoners of war were among Allied POWs held by the Germans in the

Stalag Luft VI Macikai POW and GULAG Camps refers to the complex of prisoner-of-war camp and forced labor camps located near Macikai (Matzicken) in German-occupied Lithuania and later, the Lithuanian SSR. The camp was opened and operated by Nazi Germany (1939� ...

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

in German-occupied Lithuania. The UK recognised the restoration of Lithuanian independence on 27 August 1991. Both countries re-established diplomatic relations in October 1991.

Embassies and consulates

The United Kingdom has an embassy in Vilnius and an honorary consulate in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania ...

. Lithuania has an embassy in London and five honorary consulates (in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, Scotland, Wales and the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Overview

There are around 100,000

Lithuanian people Lithuanians ( lt, lietuviai) are a Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another million or two make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Unite ...

living in the United Kingdom. Both countries are full members of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. The current ambassador to Lithuania is , and the ambassador to the UK is Renatas Norkus. In 2006, the

Queen of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

paid a visit to Lithuania.

Gallery

File:Primoji Lietuvos atstovybe Londone.First Representation of Lithuania in London.jpg, First representation of Lithuania in London, 1919 File:President of the Republic of Lithuania (7608821386).jpg, British Foreign Secretary

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

meeting

President of Lithuania The President of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of Lithuania. The officeholder has been Gitanas Nausėda since 12 July 2019. Powers The president has somewhat more executive authority th ...

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth President of Lithuania from 2009 until 2019. She is the first woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Lithuania to be ...

File:Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends NATO summit (53039324384).jpg, President of Lithuania

Gitanas Nausėda Gitanas Nausėda (born 19 May 1964) is a Lithuanian economist, politician and banker who is serving as the ninth and incumbent President of Lithuania since 2019. He was previously director of monetary policy at the Bank of Lithuania from 1996 un ...

greets British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the 2023 Vilnius Summit File:Vilnius Britu taryba.jpg, British Embassy in Vilnius File:Embassy of Lithuania in London - 2021.jpg, Embassy of Lithuania, London File:Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church of St. Casimir - geograph.org.uk - 1717292.jpg,

St Casimir's Lithuanian Church The Roman Catholic Church of St Casimir is a Lithuanian church located in Bethnal Green, London, E2 9DT. History The mission was founded in 1901, with a church on the corner of Christian Street and Cable Street. Fr Boleslas Szlamas had his qua ...

, a Lithuanian-speaking Roman Catholic church in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

File:RAF Typhoon Over Lithuania MOD 45157539.jpg,

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

patrolling over Lithuania as part of the

Baltic Air Policing The Baltic air-policing mission is a NATO air defence Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in order to guard the airspace above the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Mission Within the Alliance, preserving airspace integrity is con ...

mission

References

External links